The Great Hizzy!

Downtown Houston's Class A vacancy rate has dropped to approximately 17.0%. Since 2000, Downtown Houston's added four highrise office buildings plus two government highrises, and yet despite a brief downturn in the oil industry from 2000 - 2004, the vacancy rate has dropped fairly significantly over the last two years, despite the addition of this new office space. Enron alone directly and indirectly had a 2.0%-plus impact on DT Houston's vacancy rate. A healthy rate for a CBD is roughly 14% to 15%. In fact, it appears DT AND the Energy Corridor are two of the markets hottest sub-markets.

Christ on a crutch...

Looks like the rendering suggests a design that doesn't veer to far from the current setup. I'll have to see more images, including a model, to develop a better idea of how I feel about the overall design. The Mets want their new yard to have a retractable roof. I imagine that the Yankees assume that their old school fans would just as soon not have anything to "new age" in the park's design.

I would imagine that SA's culture is more eclectic than it is cosmopolitan, and in that, it's a matter of "which appeals to you personally." I also agree with 2112's early post that talked about the appearance of SA being a noticeably poorer city, although I think that's more because the older parts of the city, that is, within the 410 Loop are more visibly poorer than those inside Houston's Loop 610. There is a lot of wealthy, OTOH, outside the 410 Loop, especially heading due north along US 281. I also wished SA's older areas were cleaner. Even as poorer neighborhoods go, trash and debris are far too prevalent, especially east and west of DT.

South Acres and South Park have their issues but they seem to have a chance. For one, the businesses along Martin Luther King have done a better job of keeping up their appearances (I can't say the same for some of the empty lots nearer to them but they're at least managing the appearances of their individual properties a lot better. The medians are also less trashy than they were two years ago and it seems the influx of central American immigrants or former immigrants to the community has helped to slow the vacancy (and abandonment rate) of many of the homes there. All this said, SA and SP still have issues with crime and a lack of diverse retail but the future looks far less bleaker than it did 3-5 years ago. Furthermore, there is a significant number of middle to even upper middle class African Americans from California who are finding homes (both slightly older and newer) in subdivisions south of Bellfort, and their influences can be felt. So we'll see how it goes longterm, but the future of that entire region between Mykawa and SH 288 is likely to be dependent on the progress and evolution of the African American and Latino community that dominates the area.

Given the current level of development at this intersection, this project would seem to be fairly isolated. Granted, Sienna Plantation is about two or three miles to the west and you do have the older subdivisions in Missouri City about two miles to the north, but there isn't much around right now. Then again, this type of development often leads to thousands of new homes being built by a handful of homebuilders. Choice and Pulte are probably already licking their fingers...

Well, the Sims project is part of a massive project addressing all the major bayous in the city. It's actually very impressive and encouraging. I wish I could remember the web address. Hopefully, someone else will step up with it.

I may eventually register just to help Trae get the ball rolling but I don't have much to say right now. I came away from Atlanta on my last trip disillusioned on some levels (okay, many levels) but impressed on some others. I'd rather wait until I've been back there and have visited for more than two days to offer something concrete. I will say that as much as seeing the continued decline of southern and western Atlanta shocked me, I was very impressed and moved by the site of Midtown and DT Atlanta from Atlantic Station. A very impressive site, indeed. Makes you really appreciate the Atlanta of today from that perspective. But then, unfortunately, you have what you have on Simpson Street or Bankhead Hwy or Sylvan Road. Not at all inspiring.

Well, I actually agree that I would've felt even better about the Red Line had it been built as part of a more elaborate system that provided rail connectivity off the bat to other corridors, particular E-W and perhaps the two airports. Unfortunately, METRO sort of invested in what some have called "The Dog & Pony Show" line to announce to DeLay and Culberson that they're building rail, regardless of their stances. There have been benefits to both the bus and rail sides as a result of the current Red Line but I'm not about to say that the cost-benefit is entirely encouraging--I agree with this. But I think you have to look at any rail line (with a possible exception for commuter rail) long term, because initial construction costs are naturally higher compared to, say, implementing a new bus route. Operating a bus route, for example, over time can be very expensive when you look at maintenance cost, operator salaries and benefits, number of vehicles used per route, etc, etc. My biggest concern right now is with the proposed E-W line and the potential concessions or what have you that might be involved. Your next rail segment is usually less efficient than your original, and if METRO proves to be too conceding in terms of design and location, it could really effect ridership and thus the overall efficiency of METRO Rail. We'll see, though. Also, other disatisfactions that I have with the current rail line: 1) the Bell Station shouldn't exist and the DTC and METRO Headquarters should've been built on land further up Main Street, maybe around Leeland. The Bell Station, as it stands, is a very low yield station and more than anything, slows down the travel time of the train through DT. A few Exxon employees enjoy some benefit along with a handful of people who decided to park in southern downtown in order to get to the Historic District for the really big events (NBA All-Star Game, etc). 2) Traffic light synchornization has turned out to be, for the most part, a small disaster. This is more on the end of COH but still... the idea was for the trains to have immediate signal override except for in the presence of emergency vehicles. There were glitches initially and it's like the city and METRO have mutually decided to throw in the towel. 3) Too many concessions to the TMC, which results in about 3-5 minutes lag time in the TMC. The Dryden Station is often a delayed stop due to those odd left turn lanes and signals that, frankly, shouldn't exist. There are others, but those are the ones that, from a logistical and ergonomics standpoint, really sit in my craw.

Others are also patently biased, regardless of numbers. The one thing that is common among people who are anti-rail (and not just anti-METRO Rail) is that they work very hard to minimize every number associated with rail, negating ridership figures, limiting the impact of per mile operation over the long haul versus bus, limiting the effect of travel time for people using the rail over the same distance as someone riding a bus, etc. And yet there seems to be all sorts of passes, considerations and the like given to building of freeways that are routinely overbudget, limited in impact and the like (and I'm saying this as someone who is not anti-freeway). Again, people often come to the party with their biases and they argue in favor of that bias to hell freezes over. It's almost pointless now. Though, I agree with musicman that METRO's light rail, though a great achievement given the number of obstacles placed against it, isn't so much a crown jewel in general, but it's nothing to shake off when you consider that it's ridership is almost three times as great as any single bus line (2 Bellaire, 163 Fondren, 82 Westheimer, etc). That's not insignificant considering that METRO Rail's length of service is no greater than any of the aforementioned bus routes. It would be nice if, at a mimum, anti-Rail people would at least acknowledge impact on transit, even in its limited scope. I don't expect them to be pro-rail but it would at least give me the hope that we aren't completedly immune from fair analysis. Also, please don't take this post as to suggest that only anti-rail people are bias. It is clear that pro-rail people have their biases too, and much of it is just as discouraging in my view when you look at the needs of the community at large.

The "worst" of Sunnyside is off of Scott Street in either direction from the Loop to about Bellfort. Unfortunately, there are gangs that have a pretty strong hold on some abandoned homes/buildings, and you can see the flow of drugs and what have you in those areas. Further, there is a real sense of ambivalence among those legit businesses in the area; a notion that, what the hell, no one gives a real damn so why should I, and they almost foster this same element in one way or the other. Then there's the issue of what I would call an almost token effort on the behalf of the city to provide municipal infrastructure: many of the streets are too narrow, the ditches, even if they aren't replaced by modern drainage systems, need to at least be dug deeper, streetlights are far beyond their lifespans and a lot of the street signs are falling down or so worn that you can always read the street names on them. It seems to be the most blatant example of communal and beaureaucratic neglect to be found in the city. Even in Settegast you find streets that are in good shape and sidewalks that are meant to actually serve the residents. Not so in Sunnyside. I can't think of a single street or sidewalk that looks as if it has been cared for in the last 20 years. That's unacceptable, but yet it seems that most residents have settled into accepting this.

Good lord. It's already efficient. The most efficient in the U.S. currently. Oh well. Perception is so, so much more important to people. If it doesn't benefit them directly then it can't be useful. Oh well, I guess you could counter-argue that our freeways, OTOH, are very efficient. I mean they carry gazillions of cars per mile every day. Not a bad use of tax dollars, baby!! But enough with the wisecracks. The fundamental problem with almost all public works projects in today's urban society (be it suburban or dense urban) is that people don't really know enough about the projects themselves and judge them solely on how it affects them personally rather than in terms of how it affects the community at large. And I'm looking forward to your poll results that show "most people in Houston" feel one way or the other. Nobody knows. They (people who presume to have a pulse no the sociopolitical sensibilities of your average Houstonian) mostly know what the people with whom they more commonly associate feel, which, in a city this size, is about the same as saying that you more or less only know how all of your aunties and or uncles feel a certain way. Hardly scientific or useful, quite frankly. My apologies. I sense that I've become a bit ornery while sick. Not my intention.

That's a good point. It's not like they merely stay inside those complexes. The riff-raff who might live in there (and I'm more than willing to assume it's a low percentage of the overall) have no problems getting outside and causing trouble elsewhere.

This looks like a job for Houston Retail or Red Scare or some other similarly nosy poster.

If Hispanics becoming a large presence both socially and economically is the criteria, then basically the entire Houston metropolitan area is becoming "like Spring Branch". And, yes, surprise, surprise, their are "cookie cutter" developments spawning the length of Fry Road as well as Mason, Clay and FM 529. Big shock. Whether we want to be honest or not, cookie cutter residential development has been widespread throughout this country since the 1800s. Even our ballyhooed urban paradises are wrought with similarly designed rowhouse, townhouses and the like lining the streets. The difference here is that the new cookie cutter development is 20 miles from downtown as opposed to 2 miles. Regardless, what the Houston housing market is doing is allowing a large percentage of people to live in a wider array of neighborhoods that they probably wouldn't be able to live if they were in some other markets--like Miami, Los Angeles or Washington, D.C. Depending on your views, this is likely to have both positives and negatives. You'll have a good number of working class people living upper middle income lifestyles, being assets and living a closer version of "the dream" than maybe they would have otherwise. But then you'll of course have that element that's set in their ways and prone to doing things that make things more difficult for the community at large. It'll be interesting to see how it all pans out in 20 years.

The thing with the so-called SW "ghettos" is that they're relatively small in size and are concentrated in apartment complexes lining four or five blocks of some main artery: Fondren SW - Fondren Road from about Creekbend to Airport Drive Gulfton - Gulfton/Glenmont Drive from about Chimney Rock to Hilcroft Westwood - Bissonnet from Gessner to Bltway 8 or Gessner from Beechnut to the SW FRWY This is important, because the better HPD and the COH can work together to 1) patrol and 2) pressure complex management regarding these properties, the sooner these "hoods" can stablize and show some sort of "return." The residential areas (that is, the homes and actual subdivisions) surrounding these complexes are actually still in solid shape. In fact, Sharpstown, for all the jokes that have been levied upon it during the 90s and early 21st century, appear to be a prime example of this type of "turnaround" that could take place with better management. Crime in the greater Sharpstown area is down, home values are up and there are a handful of community improvement projects underway. The question might be, how did they go about helping to stablize things and can those tactics work in a Fondren SW, for example? I hate to label a "worst" neighborhood but a neighborhood that has severe problems, in my view, is Sunnyside: lack of retail, lack of economic investment and a prevailing since of rural detachment, as if its annexation was mere window dressing. I have a serious problem with that, and I think it's high time that COH does a better job of encouraging larger scale economic and retail investment in these former rural enclaves that the city annexed back in the 60s and 70s.

Red's probably got too much time on his hands.

Even without any significant annexation, Pearland's 2010 population is expected to be between 65K-70K. Lots of home construction there within the existing city limits. League City is expected to gain a significant amount in population without significant annexation as well. League City's already estimated to have about 66,000 residents.

Don't panic just yet. Much easier to get the big name stuff signed up than the niche stuff. HOB and Lucky Strike are big name tenants to start with. The stuff that many of you are coveting is likely to be hit or miss until the thing actually gets built. I'm surprised to hear about Mia Bella, though. Would this be a second location? Their current one is basically el primo, as far as location goes.

For housing? Because it's a slightly different animal than retail. You have to identify the market and learn what type of residents are easiest to bring into the fray. Then you have to wrestle with financing and the like. That takes a little time. Just look at Midtown. I'm certainly not saying that HP's going to take 3-5 years. I expect that to be up and going in full within the next couple of years provided that groundbreaking is this fall. Sorry if I didn't make the distinction. I was just more talking about the longterm impact on residential. Tends to take longer than it does for retail, especially in a market like Houston (or Dallas, Phoenix, Denver, etc).

^^^ Agreed. Unfortunately, even if HP takes off and the park is developed as expected, it looks to be another 3-5 years off.

That'd be cool if true. That would allow the Pavillions to develop a bit of a connection with Toyota Center, which is what the planners eventually want anyway, to connect eastern downtown with the rest of downtown. I've also heard that the Yao restaurant in Westchase has been very successful so far, so a second location, if this is all true, wouldn't seem like a particularly risky move.

LOL

There is nothing more impressive than the liar and swindler who thinks that no ones paying attention. He usually ends up going overboard and ruining himself. All Culberson had to do was live up to his words that he and DeLay so proudly wolfed prior to the 2003 referendum. Congratulations!

Velvet is right. METRO's interests are best served by maintaining diplomacy, as nauseating as that might sound to the rest of us. It is the voting public, however, that has every opportunity to be anything but diplomatic, and it's my continued belief that tactics such as these (Culberson/Wong) are so blatant and onerous that they need to be treated as such.